Electro-optic identification (EOID) sensing systems provide photographic quality images that can be used to identify objects of interest (e.g., mines or mine-like objects) on the ocean bottom. Two of these high-resolution sensing systems are Laser Line Scan (LLS) and Streak Tube Imaging Lidar (STIL) systems. Both of these types of sensing systems are underwater imaging systems that produce high quality images. They differ in that LLS systems produce two-dimensional contrast images whereas STIL systems produce three-dimensional image data that can be rendered into two-dimensional contrast and range image maps.
To date, a human operator's manual examination of EOID images is the standard for detecting and recognizing objects of interest. However, numerous limitations and widely varying skill levels of the human operator make computer-aided identification and target recognition schemes attractive.